Some reports placed the casualty toll higher, however, and officials said the force of the second bomb had collapsed some buildings, potentially burying additional people under the rubble.

The second bomb was directed at a compound housing Western workers, and one report said British citizens had died. But that information could not be verified with the Kandahar authorities.

Four German soldiers were also killed Thursday during a rocket attack by insurgents in the northern province of Baghlan. The deaths brought to 43 the number of soldiers from Germany killed since it entered the Afghan conflict in 2002.

The force of the second blast shook much of the city and blew out windows around a wide radius, while sending a huge flame and thick dark smoke into the sky. One house that was partly damaged belongs to Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, who lives several hundred yards from the site of the explosion.

“Some of the buildings nearby have been damaged and collapsed,” said Zalmy Ayoubi, a spokesman for the Kandahar provincial governor, “and it could be that some people are trapped under the rubble.”

In addition to the 2 people killed in the second explosion, an Afghan security guard and a civilian, 17 people were wounded. Mr. Ayoubi warned that the death toll could rise.

The first explosion occurred early in the evening and wounded at least six people. It was caused by a bomb hidden underneath a car in the parking lot of a Kandahar hotel popular with journalists, in a bustling shopping district. The blast shattered the glass of about 40 shops in the area.

A version of this article appears in print on April 16, 2010, on page A11 of the National edition with the headline: Taliban Seen Behind 2 Car Bomb Attacks in Downtown Kandahar. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe